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Monday, February 09, 2015

Disclaimer: The owner of this business is somebody I consider a friend. She sent me some of her latest stock asking for a fair and honest review, which is what this is. All opinions are my own, based on my experiences with the following products.

Exactly a year ago, when I was pregnant and looking to stock baby things ahead of the pregnancy, I looked far and wide for cloth diapering options in India. As you may have noted from my last review, there is much more to cloth diapering today than the flimsy cloth triangles of yore. One of the most useful resources I found was Cloth Diaper Shop India. A business built strongly on word of mouth and using Facebook and her blog, CDS currently has its own website and an official helpline manned by the enthusiastic Poornima Kishan, the woman behind the enterprise. Now, most of the cloth diaper retailers currently operating in India source readymade Chinese brands. Good ones, but these necessarily come with pre-set styles and patterns. CDS recently took a step forward by getting its own diapering products manufactured according to the feedback Poornima has so carefully gathered over her time in the business and also as a cloth diapering mother herself.

Of these, the product that excites me the most is the bamboo cotton insert. It looks like a prefold and in fact, I think of it as a prefold. It's two layers of thick bamboo cotton fabric sized about the same as the Econobum prefold.

It came to me wonderfully soft and luxurious; through several washes and line-drying it's grown a little stiffer but remains soft to the touch and is very absorbent. I had always been scared of using cover diapers at night somehow but one of these bamboo cotton pieces, folded in thirds over a microfibre or hemp insert, is a bulky yet quite adequate night-time diaper. It kept a heavy wetter like Puchke going for over eight hours recently, which is quite an achievement given that he feeds twice a night.

I got the CDS hemp insert too. You can see it here, along with the
bamboo, next to one of my Osocozy size 1 prefolds. Both bamboo cotton
and hemp inserts shrank a little after washing but not significantly so.

Hemp inserts do not get any prettier on washing but they do get better and better at soaking up liquid. That said, I confess to a little weakness for the rainbow edging, it's so cute! So far my favourite night-time pocket insert combination was the charcoal bamboo+organic bamboo from Madhuri Baby. However, this hemp insert gives me an even trimmer diaper -- even when paired with microfibre, notorious for being bulky.

The third product I received from CDS is their latest offering, a minky all-in-one (AIO) diaper with a sewn-in microfibre insert as well as a pocket opening so that more absorbency can be added as required. I don't like minky fabrics but I have to say I find this diaper cute.

It's lined with charcoal bamboo fabric inside, which adds to its absorbency. You can see the sewn in insert. The pocket opening is also visible to the left.

I pulled the inner sewn-in insert out a little through the pocket opening so you can see it better.

Now, this diaper, like any AIO, is bulky to start with, so I like to boost it with the CDS hemp insert for nights. Interestingly, it's a larger diaper than my Alva pockets, with the rise unsnapped. It has three rise settings (i.e. the buttons which can make the diaper longer or shorter down the front) which gives a variety of fit options, though I have to say I'm not a big fan of the smaller rises. This is because I don't like the way the sewn-in insert bunches up when the rise is at its smallest. See the whole diaper compared with my one-size green Alva pocket.

This photo brings me to the diaper on the right, the pretty purple cover diaper. It was a print I had loved when it was first unveiled. Unfortunately though, the piece that reached me had a broken snap. It still fitted Puchke but when I mentioned the damage to Poornima she promptly sent me a replacement cover. These two are also new to the shop, and made to her own specifications. They are exactly the kind of cover diaper I like. Check out the replacement.

Also check out the cute diaper keyring that was promptly washed and added to Puchke's growing collection of Things to Chew On. The construction print was not one that I was immediately drawn to but it's growing on me. The inside of the cover is what really pleases me.

Front
and back flaps keep inserts in place, double gussets at the legs keep messes contained and the tabs (the chocolate coloured 'wings')
stretch ever so slightly, making for a nice, snug fit at the waist. The
PUL seems sturdy, too. Sizewise, these new CDS covers are slightly
larger than the Alva OS pocket I compared them to, as you will have
noted in the earlier photo.

Lastly, prices: CDS products are not
cheap. I'd call them mid-range. However, Poornima offers occasional
discounts, and free shipping for orders over Rs. 2000. Many customers
talk of the freebies she is known to surprise them with -- I myself
received an unexpected fleece liner once. Those who buy from her tend
to return because she is known for being accessible and extremely
helpful, especially to mothers trying out these products for the first
time, confused about what would best suit their babies. Personally,
having tried out these specific products, I think the covers are very
nicely priced, while the hemp and bamboo cotton insert trial pack is an
excellent deal.

That concludes my review. I will end on a fun
note from Poornima. To set the ball rolling with the new additions to
her shop, she is hosting a treasure hunt from today. Your first clue is

I thought you would turn them into "selfish brats" by giving them
everything they wanted. I thought they might never learn to wait, to
take turns, to share, because you granted their wishes as soon as they
opened their mouths and pointed.

You held each one of my babies long after they fell asleep.

Didn't
you understand that I needed them to learn to fall asleep on their own?
You ran to them as soon as they made the tiniest sound. How would they
ever learn to self soothe?

and

I spent a lot of time wondering why you did all these things and how I
could get you to ease up. I know grandmothers are supposed to "spoil the
kids," then send them home, but you were … ridiculous.

but also

My kids, now in their teens, miss you dearly. And they don't miss your
gifts or your money. They miss you. They miss running to greet you at
the door and hugging you before you could step in. They miss looking up
at the bleachers and seeing you, one of their biggest fans, smiling and
enthralled to catch their eye. They miss talking to you and hearing your
words of wisdom, encouragement and love.

This reminds of my children's grandparents. V and I have been battling my parents' spoiling for many years, but every so often, we see how much it reassures Rahul, that unshakably firm bedrock of their love for him, and we know we're not really in a battle. It's more a dance or a play and we're playing out our parts, but with less and less conviction each year. Their spoiling has not spoiled him. Not for ever, not for life, not even for these years. They just make our job harder, but making our job easier was never my parents' ambition.

And in a sadder way, this reminded me of my mother-in-law. She wants to be the archetypal grandmother, adoring and adored, and she has it all within her reach and yet she doesn't know how to enjoy it. This letter should also have been about her.

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Late in May last year I received a baby gift from Monika that totally made my day: a chocolate brown linen Soul ring sling. I had been eyeing them greedily on Facebook, hesitant to spend what seemed like a lot of money over what's basically a length of cloth and yet coveting the comfort they seemed to promise. Thrilled with the gift, I placed it in the front of my baby things and waited impatiently to use it. We used to wear The Wee Bhablet, if you remember, and already knew it was the most comfortable way to cart a kid around.

The good thing is, these slings (unlike Rahul's ssc) can be used from birth. The extra fabric, called the 'tail', can be used to cover your baby from dust, sun, rain or even just to allow him to nap in peace. Or blow bubbles, should he be in the mood.

My first time out of the house with the newborn Puchke, I popped him into our Soul. And the next time. After the first few awkward carries I spent a little time reading up on how to really wear a ring sling. We haven't looked back since. I soon realised that I use the sling a
great deal more than any other baby thing we have (except my beloved
cloth diapers!) and thus, it's worth every rupee.

Especially when I was travelling in December and had nobody to help me with Puchke, it was wonderful being able to carry him in a carrier that folded so compactly into any old bag. This brown linen sling is easy to launder (bung into washing machine) so it has seen trains and aeroplanes, beaches and hills.

Emboldened by a discount on their Facebook page, I even bought myself another sling, one from their limited handloom range, for warmer babywearing during the winter. I may not be a Green Lantern but I claim babywearing as my superpower.

The handloom fabric is thicker and harder to adjust initially, but once in place it's actually even softer and more pliable than the linen sling. Also, the fabric looks really special when worn to weddings.

As you can see from the *cough* action shot *cough* below, babies nap rather comfortably in slings. Even when their father and brother go nuts all around them in a busy, noisy food court.

Vicky has mixed feelings about ring slings because he finds them a little fiddly. I love them because I'm used to adjusting them and now I'm fairly fast. Once you're used to one, I find nothing beats them for versatility -- baby blanket, wipe, your stole, sunshade, chew toy and also a carrier -- as well as convenience. Babies can be popped in and out without struggling with buckles or straps. The least expected benefit has been how much my back loves these slings: when worn correctly they seem to exert just the right amount of pressure in just the right places to soothe an aching back. So there you go. I am not calling this a review because I'm clearly very biased but if you have a baby or a toddler and you have aching arms and could do with a carrier, you really should head over to Soul Ring Slings and check their stuff out. If you have queries, mail them. As somebody who did, and got all the help she required, I vouch for their customer service too.

And no, nobody's paying me for saying any of this, not that I would mind being paid in slings. (Yes, these slings get a little addictive. I'm hoping you didn't notice that.)